Protecting Security for the People

The Cost of Federal Carbon Tax will Burden Ontario’s Police, Firefighters, Corrections, and Other Frontline Services

PORT CREDIT — Ontario is working for the people by fighting against increased costs to public institutions caused by the imposition of a burdensome federal carbon tax.

Solicitor General Sylvia Jones, Rod Phillips, Minister of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks, and Rudy Cuzzetto, MPP for Mississauga-Lakeshore, were at the Port Credit Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police today in Mississauga-Lakeshore to talk about how the federal government’s carbon tax will impact local police, firefighters, and other frontline services.

“The carbon tax will impact Ontario’s correctional facilities, and OPP detachments, costing them more than $1.4 million a year by 2022,” said Rudy Cuzzetto, Member of Provincial Parliament for Mississauga-Lakeshore. “Furthermore, the carbon tax will take millions from our Mississauga Hospital, Mississauga Fire Department, Peel Paramedics, and Peel Regional Police. This means less resources for frontline services.”

The $1.4 million over four years could have been used to equip the provincial police force with 30 new cruisers for officers to patrol, or 43 drug-testing devices to ensure road safety. This amount could have also been used to pay for the annual wages of approximately 16 additional correctional officers.

“The federal government’s unconstitutional carbon tax will drain resources that could otherwise be spent on protecting our families, supporting victims, or holding criminals accountable for their actions,” said Sylvia Jones, Solicitor General. “Our government has promised to protect what matters most, and few things matter more than the security of the people. We want police, firefighters, paramedics, corrections officer, and other frontline responders to be able to continue providing the potentially life-saving services we rely on. That’s why we’ll continue our fight the federal government’s carbon tax.”

In addition to this, the OPP also relies upon the use of more than 4,000 vehicles in fulfilment of their duties. The carbon tax will cost this fleet more than $2 million annually by 2022, diverting additional community safety dollars from front-line services.

“The carbon tax will impact our province’s institutions that provide essential services to keep the people of Ontario safe including police services,” said Rod Phillips, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. “That is why we are committed to using every tool at our disposal, including our courts, to challenge the federal government’s unconstitutional carbon tax.”

Ontario's case challenging the constitutionality of the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act is being heard by the Court of Appeal this week. Ontario is arguing that the provinces, not the federal government, have the primary responsibility to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and that the charges the act seeks to impose are in fact unconstitutional disguised taxation.

The Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan considers our province's specific priorities, challenges and opportunities, and commits to reducing our emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, a target that aligns with the federal government's Paris commitments, without imposing a carbon tax on the people of our province. Through the efforts of individuals and industry, Ontario is already most of the way to this target, with the province's emissions down 22 per cent since 2005.

“Our Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan serves as proof that you can both oppose a carbon tax and continue to do more to fight climate change – you don’t have to choose. Our Made-in-Ontario plan will allow the forests, rivers, marshes of Mississauga-Lakeshore to remain beautiful, and clean for future generations to explore and enjoy,” concluded MPP Cuzzetto.

The government remains committed to fighting the federal government’s plan to impose a carbon tax on the people of Ontario.

Quick Facts

The federal carbon tax on fuels came into effect on April 1, 2019. It increases the price of gasoline in Ontario by 4.4 cents per litre. This will rise to 6.6 cents in 2020, 8.8 cents in 2021, and 11.1 cents per litre in April 2022.

The federal carbon tax will cost a typical household in Ontario $648 a year by 2022.

nursing and seniors’ care homes by $6.7 million in 2019, rising to $16.7 million in 2022.

colleges and universities by increasing their upfront annual heating costs by approximately $9.6 million in 2019, soaring to $24 million in 2022; the tax will cost the University of Toronto at Mississauga more than $440,000 in new taxes by 2022.

Ontario has proposed an emissions performance standard for large emitters that recognizes the unique circumstances of Ontario’s economy and its manufacturing sector. This approach would reduce emissions from industry, helping Ontario achieve its proposed emissions reduction target without imposing a carbon tax.